The Chrysalids is a novel about universal human themes which touch all of our lives, from religious intolerance and fear of the different, to carefully examining what it really means to be a truly decent human being.
Considered a literary classic that is required reading for many students in England and Canada, it is virtually unknown in the USA (and was published here as "Rebirth").
Set in a rural farming community thousands of years after a catastrophic nuclear war, "The Chrysalids" tells of a society still recovering from that ancient disaster which ended the old technological civilization all those uncounted centuries ago.
Genetic mutations from background radiation still constantly crop up (more so when the winds blow in from the wastelands), and are called "blasphemies" or "deviations" by the fanatically religious community members who live in the county of Waknuk, in Labrador, where this story is set.
Such mutations that appear in crops or livestock are always destroyed.
In earlier days all mutations, be they plant, animal or human, were slaughtered or burned alike and only the true stock of the Lord (as the fanatically religious community calls it) was suffered to live.
But, in the more enlightened times of this story (if you could actually call them enlightened), if mutations are human, they are no longer slaughtered, but merely sterilized and banished to the barely survivable wild areas, called the fringes, to starve and struggle trying to eke out some kind of permanent existence there--if they can actually manage it somehow in such a difficult to survive landscape.
In this distopia of a society, to be different in any way whatsoever from the community norm is extremely dangerous.
The religiously fanatical people of Labrador believe that the ancient nuclear war, the after effects of which still linger these thousands of years later, was not mankind's folly, but was instead a punishment delivered unto humanity from God. They believe that like Noah's flood, sending down the "Tribulation", as they refer to it, was God's judgement for the ancients losing their faith in him.
They believe that the ruined world they inhabit is a their punishment and, also, a test they must pass in order for mankind to one day earn it's way back into God's good graces and have the now mythical life of the "old people" restored to it once again.
To pass their grueling test of worthiness they believe they must earn God's forgiveness by keeping the stock, the crops and themselves in the supposedly "true image" as originally created by God in the book of Genesis.
Only the Lord can make a perfect living thing, their religious leaders tell them. The devil keeps trying to pollute the Lord's perfection, the people of Labrador faithfully believe, he's forever trying to fool mankind with his own imperfect imitations of the Lord God's true and rightful creations.
The believers of this future church are told that since only God can create perfection there is always a flaw, a mistake, when the devil creates life, and that those people born with physical imperfections or unusual differences from the norm are therefore the devil' s creations, not God's--and they are also assured that these flawed imitations possess no souls. Therefore, the church authorities teach, real humans need show them no mercy or sympathy.
This is the utterly warped, intolerant and coldly cruel society into which David Strorm, the novel's protagonist, is born. And, young David's father happens to be both the most wealthy and powerful man in the local county as well as the local defender of the faith--a man feared by all, including David.
But, one day, young David comes across another child named Sophie, who's family lives deep in the forest, keeping their existence hidden from the community in order to protect Sophie's great secret. You see, little Sophie was born with an extra toe, an "imperfection" which would lead to terrible consequences for her if it were ever to be discovered by the heartlessly fanatical community and it's ruthless authorities.
As Sophie and he become good friends, David soon enough comes to see with clarity that she is not a soulless subhuman creation of the devil as he's been told, but that aside from her tiny physical difference, little Sophie is really the same as everybody else. It is then, that David realizes that what he's been taught is a lie, and that the treatment which people with imperfections or notable differences are subjected to by his society is both terribly cruel and horrifically wrong.
And David has another secret besides his friendship with Sophie to keep, for he too has a difference which would bring the wrath of society down upon him if it were ever to be discovered.
His difference doesn't show on the outside like Sophie's, though. David's own difference is what he can do with his amazing mind--mental feats which no ordinary person in their community could ever dream of doing. And his cousin only a few miles away can do these same amazing mental feats as well.
They may be young, but they have learned already that they must keep their superior mental abilities carefully hidden from others for the sake of their very survival.
And this is how affairs remain until David unexpectedly discovers one day that his baby sister has a mind with abilities that put his own and his cousin Rosalind's to shame. And the tiny, incredibly gifted little Petra is too young to understand the extreme dangers of letting others know that she is different from them in any way.
David quickly realizes that he is the only one in a position to take on the extremely dangerous responsibility of teaching her caution and helping to keep his little sister's superior mental abilities a secret in order to protect her from the terrible wrath of their fanatical community, as well as from the wrath and rejection of their own equally fanatical and devout parents.
And this is all just a tiny fraction of what revered English writer John Wyndham has in store for the readers of his classic novel "The Chrysalids".
I honestly haven't even scratched the surface of this well written tale which so deftly touches upon so many universal aspects of the human condition.
I have also attempted to keep my descriptions of the book as sweepingly broad and general as possible in order to keep the giving away of any spoilers to an absolute minimum--and I won't offer any more details about this superb book for this very reason.
The Chrysalids is one of those rare science fiction novels that even people who normally hate science fiction find themselves actually loving.
Award winning author David Mitchel called it, "One of the most thoughtful post-apocalypse novels ever written."
I have to agree with his assessment of this fantastically well written book one hundred percent of the way.
Great books can be written within any genre, and "The Chrysalids" became a classic for a very good reason: it is a great book.
Of the numerous post-apocalypse novels written since the invention of the atomic bomb, "The Chrysalids" has few challengers in literary quality, in depth, in it's memorable group of characters, in the scope of its' themes or in in how much heart it possesses.
I couldn't recommend John Wyndham's classic masterpiece "The Chrysalids" any more highly than I do.
This is a book that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime.
I assure you that once you've read this fabulously well written book, it's unforgettable characters and emotionally moving story will stick with you for a very long time after the last page has been turned.
Reads rarely get any better than this.
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Review of the book and not the content inside
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Top reviews from other countries
Julie Morris
Disturbing and thought-provoking and pertinent.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2020
